Ornamenting surfaces.



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oRNAm-:Nm- Suances.'v l APPLICATIUN FILED JULY 18.1916.

Patented Jari. 9,1917. n

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THEODOBE F. KOTTER AND RICHARD VAN GLEEF COLTON, 0F NEW YORK, AND SIGMON D HARRY SCHWERIN, QF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS T0 VERNART MANU` FACTURING ConronATIoN, or NEW YORK, N. Y., A conronA'rIoN or NEW Yonx.

ORNAMENTING sUnFAcEs.

Specification of Letters Ifatent.

Patented Jan. 9, 191,7.

Application led July, 18, 1916. Serial-No. 109,937.

RICHARD yVAN CLEEF CoL'roNf,'a resident of the borough of Richmond, county of Richmond, city and State of New York, and SIGMOND HARRY SCHWER1N a. resident of lthe borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, city and State of New York, citizens of the United States, and residents as above set forth, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ornamenting Surfaces, of which the following isa specication.

In this application and in the description which follows we'will set fortha method for producing designs on surfaces, and particularly upon flexible4 surfaces. v

In our experiments and inthe work which has resulted therefrom, we have operated with such flexible surfaces as felt and woven fabrics and although we are fully aware that our method may be employed in decorating other materials'we will lthroughout the speciiication, refer toit as employed in the decoration of felt. y

Because of the culiar nature of felt it has been found di cult to apply to the surface thereof painting, printed or embossed designs, for the reason that embossing does not permanently shape the felt to an extent suflicient to allow it to retain the design andl in painting or printing the ink or paint spreads beyond the contines ofthe design and therefore the appearance of the nished product is neither artistic nor satisfactory.

In our method of o eration we employa peculiar baseor adhesive appliedin a peculiar manner and into or upon the adhesive we place the decorative material which will later be treated in a desirable manner.

The result of our method of operation and the advantages to be gained therefrom will be fully described as the speciication progresses.

The following is what we consider the best means of carrying out this invention and the accompanying drawings should be referred to for a better understanding of the description which' follows.

In'the drawings: Figure 1 shows a pattern bearing member. Fig. 2 a small section of felt after the adhesive has been ap- }plied. Fig. 3 a similar section afterl the beading has been applied tothe adhesive.

Fig. 4 a tinted portionfrom which the beading was omitted.

Similar reference numerals indicate like parts. 'in all of the figures where they appear. In operatingaccording to our method wc select a piece of foraminous gauze such as .bolting cloth, milling cloth or any other screen of `comparatively line mesh. Upon the gauze or screen we outlme a desirable pattern or figure as indicated at 1, and then to the surface -of the gauze, exterior to theoutline ofthe pattern we apply water-proof varnish or paint, of such a nature and to such a thickness as will` entirely close the openings in the screening exterior to the outline of the pattern, though it is desirnature that it will not become brittle, but will allow the gauze to retain its flexibility.

The surface 2, in Fig. 1, is shown as treated with a suitable varnish. When the varnish is dry thev pattern bearing member is ready able adhesive, one that maybe operated in amount of viscosity and one that will not become hardened when dry, for as our decoration is applied to flexible surfaces, we deable that the varnish or paint be of such a for use, we then prepare or obtain a suitafplastic form that will have a desirable means of a pouncet, the adhesive is forced through the pattern bearing portion or the unvarnished portion of 'the `foraminous gauze on to or upon the surfacesun'der the pattern bearing member. After this operation it will be found that the felt or other surfaces to be decorated has received a quantity of adhesive suiicient to imprint upon the surface lthev unvarnished pattern 3. Shortly after the adhesive has been applied as described a quantity of glass beads 4, sometimes termed pearls, Hitters or frosting is applied onto the adhesive, but this we have not found entirely necessary. The

beaded surfaces is then allowed-to dry and when fully dried it may be tinted vor colored by means of a hand brush, or air brush or by any other suitable means and to produce any desirable effect, and by means of the method described flower or other figures may be transferred in their natural colors with great rapidity and at a low cost.

In a certain and less complete development of the invention we may omit the glass beads or flitters and may allow the adhesive to dry and later tint it as shown in Fig. 4.

lVherever the glass beads are used we take especia-l care to see that the coloring matter applied thereto is semi-transparent and thin so that the opalescence of the glass will not be destroyed. Further it is important that different portions of a design be colored according to the requirements to produce a naturally appearing product. Solid colors should not be used, as they destroy the artistic effect. It is further important that the glass be applied at the time that the adhesive is suiiciently dry to have a maximum viscosity and that certain portio-ns of the pattern member within the outline of the design should be varnished or Painted to allow none of the adhesive to pass therethrough 'as a lack of continuity of the adhesive adds to the flexibility of the finished product.

The use of a gauze in our method of operation is not merely for the purpose of a pattern bearing member, for if this were its only purpose an ordinary cut stencil might be employed, but we have found that by forcing the adhesive through a gauze of fine mesh by means of a pouncet, the adhesive is split up or subdivided and is applied in a somewhat granular form. rlhis sub-division of the adhesive adds materially to the flexibility of the finished product and allows the adhesive and the material added thereto to be retained -upon the flexible surface to which it is applied, even though that surface is bent at a sharp angle or rolled or roughly handled.

It is hardly possible to discover that the adhesive is granulated or sub-divided during an application, as when the beading or coloring matteris'applied a finished product has every appearance of the complete and integrally formed surfaces.

The tinting of the coloring matter should be thin not only to preserve the shape and Vbrilliancy of the beading as described, but

so that it may pass beyond the beadsand be received by the surfaces to which the beading is attached. u

We prefer the use of an adhesive containing oil and white-lead, and a small quantity of zinc, as such an adhesive will not destroy the brilliancy of the beads but will also be more permanent than the more ordinary glues or pastes. v

Having carefully and fully described our invention what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. The method of decorating surfaces which consists of applying to the surfaces a finely subdivided adhesive inserting particles ofv glass into said adhesive and applying to said patricles of glass and adhesive a semi-transparent tint which will allow the glass to shine therethrough.

2. The method of decorating surfaces consisting in placing upon the surface to be decorated a foraminous pattern bearing member forcing an adhesive through the interstioes of said foraminous member and applying particles of glass to said surface and tinting said glass particles with thin coloring matter that will not conceal the surface of the glass as herein specified.

3. The method of decorating flexible surfaces which consists of forcibly applying to the surface to be decorated an adhesive, inserting into said adhesive material having a hard and brilliant surface andwhen the adhesive lis dry applying to the exposed part of said brilliant surface a semi-transparent tint through which the brilliancy of the surface may be observed.

Dated New York city, New York, July 8,1916.

THEODOREF. KOTTER. RICHARD VAN CLEEF COLTON. SIGMOND HARRY SCHWERIN. 

